What's New

With the aim of ensuring that pregnant workers are able to keep their jobs and perform them safely, the U.S. Congress today reintroduced the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). The bill, which has broad support, would require employers to make reasonable job modifications for pregnant women, such as providing a stool or help with heavy lifting.Read more

The Senate today passed SB 400 (Jackson), co-sponsored by LAS-ELC, which would protect the employment of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. SB 400 would ensure that employers make appropriate workplace accommodations for victims, and that people experiencing domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking are not terminated for disclosing their victim status.Read more

Today, on behalf of Jose Arnulfo Arias, a Central Valley dairy worker, the Legal Aid Society – Employment Law Center (LAS-ELC) and California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. (CRLA) filed a lawsuit under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act in U.S. District Court in Sacramento against Angelo Dairy and its attorney, Anthony Raimondo of McCormick Barstow LLC, to vindicate the right of workers to be free from retaliation regardless of immigration status. You can read the complete press release here.Read more

LAS-ELC is the organizational sponsor of three bills this legislative session that would enhance protections for workers in California. LAS-ELC attorneys testified in Sacramento in support of the bills, all of which passed out of committee last week – an important step toward protecting vulnerable workers in California. Read more

Each year, more than 19,000 members of our armed forces are raped or sexually assaulted at work. This epidemic of sexual violence has been called the "invisible war" due to a culture of silence which keeps survivors from reporting these crimes and can result in a lack of action when reports are made.Read more

Every year, 6.6 million people in the United States are affected by stalking, defined as willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly following or harassing another person and threatening them, causing them to fear for their safety or that of their family. 1 in 6 women and 1 in 19 men have experienced stalking, which has serious emotional, psychological, physical, and economic consequences for victims, their families, and their communities.Read more

We congratulate Kim Turner, John and Terry Levin Fellow for Fair Play for Girls in Sports, for being selected as one of The Recorder's2013 Lawyers on the Fast Track. The second annual list includes 50 California attorneys whose early accomplishments indicate they will be tomorrow's top lawyers and leaders. All selected lawyers will be profiled in a special edition of The Recorder on June 24 and will be recognized at an awards gala on June 26.Read more

We are honored that we have been selected as the host organization for a two-year Shartsis Friese LLP (SF LLP) Public Interest Fellowship. This Fellowship will allow us to launch the Vietnamese American Workers Rights Project, which will provide free legal assistance to low wage workers in the South Bay.Read more

April 9th is Equal Pay Day, a chance to acknowledge the persistent income gap between men and women and to commit to doing something to close it. Each year, Equal Pay Day is celebrated on the date that marks how much longer a woman must work to earn the same pay a man earned, on average, during the previous year. In 2012, women in the U.S. would have had to work 15 months and nine days to receive a paycheck equal to what men doing the same job received in just 12 months.Read more

On April 3rd the state Supreme Court heard oral argument in Sonic-Calabasas A., Inc. v. Frank Moreno and considered the preemptive reach of the Federal Arbitration Act as it relates to the ability of claimants to pursue their claim using the labor commissioner’s “Berman” process. In an article in the Daily Journal, LAS-ELC attorneys Bill McNeill and Fernando Flores explain that the court’s decision could potentially prevent workers from utilizing the accessible and affordable administrative forum, and could instead require them to participate in the costly and complicated arbitration process when their employers subvert basic labor protections.Read more